Minister Reynders deplores civilian casualties in Israel and the Palestinian Territories and calls for a lasting ceasefire

date: 21 November 2012

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders is adamant that everything must be done to reach a lasting ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza Strip. He fully supports the intense efforts currently being made by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Elaraby and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in this climate of persisting violence.

Didier Reynders remains very concerned by the suffering of so many innocent civilians on both sides of the conflict. He expresses his commiseration to all civilian victims and their families.

In this context, he strongly condemns the attack perpetrated in the centre of Tel Aviv today, which caused many civilians to be injured precisely at a time where hope for a truce had arisen after eight days of confrontations.